Wednesday, March 21st
tonight in Chicago
They’ll be playing at Constellation.
The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums), live, London, 2010
#1
#2
tonight in Chicago
They’ll be playing at Constellation.
The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums), live, London, 2010
#1
#2
tonight in Chicago
These guys will be playing at Constellation.
The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, baritone and tenor saxophones; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums), live, London, 2010
#1
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#2
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lagniappe
reading table
You ask: what is life? That’s like asking: what is a carrot? A carrot is a carrot, and that’s all there is to know.
—Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), letter to wife Olga Knipper-Chekhova, April 20, 1904 (translated from Russian by Cathy Popkin [Anton Chekhov’s Selected Stories, Cathy Popkin, ed.])
Soundtrack for your day?
Peter Brotzmann Tentet,* live, Atlanta, 2002
*PB, reeds; Ken Vandermark, reeds; Mats Gustafsson, reeds; Mars Williams, reeds; Joe McPhee, trumpet; Jeb Bishop, trombone; Fred Longberg-Holm, cello; Kent Kessler, bass; Hamid Drake, drums; Michael Zerang, drums.
only rock ’n’ roll
The Ex & Brass Unbound,* “Cold Weather Is Back,” live, London, 2010
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Christopher Wool (1955-)
*****
*Roy Paci (trumpet), Wolkter Wierbos (trombone), Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone), Mats Gustaffson (baritone saxophone).
Most saxophonists play with their mouths and fingers.
Not this guy—he uses his whole body.
Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone, live, Romania (Bucharest), 2010
*****
Sunday afternoon, at an art gallery on Chicago’s west side (Corbett vs. Dempsey), I heard Gustafsson, who lives in Sweden, perform with the Chicago-based reed player Ken Vandermark. One-word review: mesmerizing.
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Sometimes discaholism is taken to its most further borders when the “holy 4″ is fulfilled:
When a vinyl has the holy 4 qualities: great music, great title, great rarity and an AMAZING cover and design!!!
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‘one piece of vinyl per day keeps the doctor away’
—Mats Gustafsson, Discaholic Corner
This I could listen to all day.
Neneh Cherry & The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums), “Dream Baby Dream,” live, Spain (San Sebastian), 2012
We ain’t never goin’ home . . .
—Neneh Cherry (59:55)*
Neneh Cherry & The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone, electronics; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums), live, Austria (Konfrontationen 2012, Nickelsdorf), 7/21/12
*“Call the Police” (S. McDee).
only rock ’n’ roll
The Ex & Brass Unbound,* live, Dublin, 2010
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lagniappe
last night
He read at the Art Institute of Chicago, where I sat rapt and happy.
Seamus Heaney, “Postscript,” Dublin, 2011
*****
*Mats Gustafsson (baritone saxophone), Ken Vandermark (tenor saxophone), Wolter Wierbos (trombone), Roy Paci (trumpet).
Neneh Cherry & The Thing (Mats Gustafsson, baritone saxophone, electronics; Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, bass; Paal Nilssen-Love, drums)
Live, Austria (Konfrontationen 2012, Nickelsdorf), 7/21/12
“Cashback” (N. Cherry)
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“Dirt” (J. Osterburg, R. Asheton, S. Asheton, D. Alexander)
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
More and more, it seems, boundaries—race, gender, country, era, genre—mean less and less.
Julius Hemphill (alto saxophone), with Abdul Wadud (cello), Baikida E.J. Carroll (trumpet), Phillip Wilson (drums), “Dogon A.D.” (Dogon A.D.), 1972
The drumming is genius—he’s like the Zigaboo Modeliste of free-jazz. . . . Any musician who doesn’t like this should just stop—this is what it’s all about. It’s such a raw sound, right up in your face. This is the perfect introduction to someone who’s never heard free-jazz before. I wouldn’t mind if this piece went on for a couple hours.